OCD Treatment - OCD Recovery Process

In this video, I talk about the treatment process for OCD and what real recovery looks like. This is the second video in this series on OCD Treatment. In this video, I provide a general overview of what OCD Recovery looks like from both a client and therapist perspective. I also talk about what to expect during the treatment process.

Video Transcript

00:00 All right, hello and welcome to part two of this training. What we're talking about OCD recovery. And so, um, in part one I talked about this, this idea of what, um, you know, ocd is, and in this particular training I want to talk about this idea of what it means, um, or what, what recovery of ocd really means, right? And that question comes in various forms to me is like, oh, is it possible to recovery? I heard ocd is chronic, you know, and um, so I want to talk about this idea of recovery. And so when I talk about OCD recovery, the best way I can explain it is really learning how to step out of the lens of ocd and staying out of the Lens. Right? So in part one, I talked about this idea of ocd being this kind of lens that comes over your eyes and kind of perception, so to speak, and you know, recovery is really about stepping out of that and seeing the thoughts and fears for what they are, which is just nothing but thoughts and fears, you know, things that should have been ignored in the first place.

00:55 But the more and more we engage with those thoughts and we reinforce them and we, you know, come to think that they're actually something that we need to be afraid of, a need to react to. And uh, one of the things that I really want to talk about is this idea of the hero's journey format. Um, and, and, and there's a real popular kind of a storytelling model called the hero's journey and, and, you know, link below to where you can learn more about that. But, um, and, and because the, when I look at the OCD recovery process, having gone through it myself and also having helped walk people through it as well. What I've learned is that the recovery really is a, a hero's journey, so to speak, and what I mean by that is, is that it's something that the individual has to go through and there are certain parts of this process that I have the hero's journey that really parallel with the OCD recovery process as well.

01:51 And to explain this a little better, I want to implement our own to talk about this movie I'm called cars. It's a pixar movie, right? And so for those of you haven't seen it, I'll quickly kind of recap. The protagonist in the movie is a, a car named lightning mcqueen. He's a race car and his whole journey starts or the whole movie starts with him, you know, on this mission to win the Piston Cup, which is this big race, right? And he's going to cocky, arrogant, you know, and he's getting to. I towed or on a trailer to a, the Piston Cup ends up getting in this kind of wreck. He ends up ruining this town called radiator springs and this whole kind of, um, you know, story unfolds from there. Now, the parallel so far is that, you know, one thing is, is on a, on every hero's journey, there's always this idea of the reluctant hero, meaning that someone's usually called into the story, um, you know, against their will.

02:46 It's not something that they plan out and you look at any good hero story, right? Um, you know, Luke Skywalker and star wars, uh, or you know, Frodo in Lord of the rings. It's something, the hero's journey is something that they get called into reluctantly. So initially there's this reluctance and I, and I say that because with OCD, no one asked for ocd, at least everyone I've ever talked to in my life that I've ever talked to with OCD. Never said to me like, you know, I think I just, I really wanted to get ocd, so I decided to do it. You know, it's never, I've never heard that said, it's always something that, you know, they just kind of showed up, so to speak. And in that same parallel of that, of that hero's journey, you know, when, when ocd shows up, there's always this reluctance to do the things we need to do to overcome it.

03:30 And in every hero's journey though, one of the greatest parts is there's this process where the hero is, is walking down the path and um, you know, gets meant by a mentor or a guide, right? And in OCD treatment like, just so you really understand the roles, like as a, as a treatment provider and therapist, my job is to be the guide for someone else on their journey. Right? So many, um, I find like a lot of treatment providers like to position themselves like they're the hero and, and they're the one that's going to save you. And the reality is though with, with OCD and, and you know, as, as most challenges in life is that you have the challenge in the end by going through the challenge, that's what you're going to have to do the hard work. And, and I want to be very clear about that with people upfront because it is hard work and there is a lot of effort and a struggle it's going to take place.

04:27 And uh, you know, any, any therapists out there who really understands ocd, knows that they are the one that has to really help guide their, their client or the person that's struggling, right? It's not their job to do the work for the client. And um, so when we talk about ocd and you know, ultimately that, that first section of the, of the hero's journey, it really is about accepting that you have ocd, right? Accepting the challenge and then, um, you know, and then having someone to guide and mentor you along the way to really show you the path that you're supposed to take. And then like any other great heroes story, like you have to do the work of facing the abyss, right? And there's usually all this self doubt. You look at any good heroes, heroes journey, you know, any of the movies that you ever like, cars or whatever.

05:16 There's always this level of self doubt. And to continue with this parallel of the movie cars in radiator springs, lightning mcqueen meets this car called the Hudson Hornet, who had already actually won the Piston Cup before and was this famous race car in that race. And then Hudson Hornet actually taught lightning McQueen, these new skills that he had never known, never a learned. And so is this idea of kind of a drifting. So we had to turn left turn right kind of thing and learn to, uh, you know, turn into the turns, so to speak. And the parallel is, is that the, those skills, it's completely against lightning mcqueen's instincts and in the same exact way on the OCD recovery process, the skills that you're gonna you're gonna learn in and started applying are going to be completely against your instincts and they're going to sound almost foolish to a degree.

06:05 But again, they're, they're the skills that have been proven to work, you know, when I talk about Erp and acceptance and commitment therapy and things like that. And so, um, and then what happens in cars basically is lightening McQueen ends up getting the Piston Cup and he is going through the race and at the very, very end of the relay race, he's about to win, right? And so initially, like I said, he started off with wanting to win the Piston Cup and through the whole journey of going through the OCD treatment, I'm sorry, the, uh, the whole process of radiator springs and all that, he, this car crashes behind him and lightening McQueen stops right before the finish line. And he goes back and he pushes this car along the, uh, along to the finish line. Someone else wins. And lightning mcqueen ends up losing the race.

06:49 And sorry if I'm spoiling the movie, for those of you who haven't seen it and a car that's either just pushing across, asked him, he's like, well, why'd you, why'd you stop? You gave it up and then you gave up the Piston Cup. And then he replies is like, Oh, some grumpy old car told me it was just an empty cup. Right? And the, at that point in the movie was the transformation that lightning mcqueen experienced from the journey and he went from, you know, his main goal of winning the cup to transforming into a new and better version of themself. And the parallel that I want to talk about there, and again, I could do a whole like just segment on this, but is this idea of the transformation that takes place by going through this recovery process. You see so, so many people when they start off on this treatment process are like, well, I want you to stop my thoughts and I want to never feel anxious again.

07:35 The reality is, is that, you know, as humans we have thoughts we don't, we don't like, right? We have feelings that are uncomfortable and that's okay. Right? And the transformation of actually going through all this stuff of facing down your fears and, and all the, in applying all these new skills, what happens is, is that I usually, I almost always see some kind of transformation happen within the individual where they have more confidence to face down fear, you know, they, they become more accepting of things that are uncomfortable. And there's this almost transformative process that takes place through the OCD recovery process. And so, um, you know, when I talk about recovery from ocd, Eh, you know, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna lie to anyone and say, Oh yeah, I can stop your thoughts are, you know, I can re because recovery isn't this place that you reach, you know, recovery is, is this thing that you start practicing.

08:29 Okay. And that really is the difference. And understanding that of someone who's going to be successful when someone thinks that there's this, you know, like mythological place, that they're going to reach with her mind. She just always in Zen and they've become enlightened. They're really setting themselves up for a lot of false expectations and failure along the way. And so when I talk about recovery from ocd, you know what I'm, what I'm really talking about is learning these skills that you can practice to get you to a place where you can get out of that lens of ocd and stay out of that Lens. And that's why when we understand that OCD is all about really changing our behaviors and our thoughts, that that first step right there, uh, is, is so crucial to the recovery process. And that's why, um, you know, things like Erp and acceptance, commitment therapy, which I'll talk about later in this, uh, in this training series are so effective.

09:18 So hopefully that analogy of that hero's journey is, is helpful. And again, you know, with this, uh, training process or this series, I have several resources that I have available to help you continue on this journey. So if you check the notes below, um, you know, I'll have links to different resources that you should definitely check out that will help you along this journey. And a, please be sure to like and subscribe to this, uh, as well. Share it if you, uh, if you know someone who will find it helpful, that'd be really helpful for me. And again, just thank you for being a part of this training and the next and then I'll meet you over in part three of this training where I'm going to start going more into depth on the idea of different compulsion's and all that stuff. So I'll see you over on part three and till next time, have a great day.

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